The St. Louis Arches had just finished a show in our space at City Museum. A boy who looked to be about 12 or 13 came up to me and shook my hand. “My name is Junior”, he said. “And I’d like to do that.” That was about 10 years ago.
Yesterday, I sat in the Majestic Theater in Boston and watched this young man perform absolutely amazing acrobatics as part of the 7 Fingers show, Traces. He uses his real name, Renaldo, now, instead of ‘Junior’. As part of Traces, he is a member of a very gifted company of multi-talented performers from around the world. In addition to the powerful acrobatic act that he presents with his partner , Naomi, (that earned them a silver medal at the Cirque de Demain competition in Paris), Renaldo does Chinese poles, hoop diving, dance, teeterboard and several other acts in the show.
Renaldo was part of Circus Harmony for six years. After attending Ecole Nationale de Cirque and continuing to train, his skills have far surpassed what he learned with us. If you’ve followed us for a while, you may remember seeing him on Chinese poles, hoop-diving, as the base of our bicycle act or, most notably, in the partner acrobatic act he choreographed for himself and his then-partner, Alexandra. He did a beautiful single trapeze act accompanied by a solo zheng player in our first Far East Meets Midwest production. His aerial ladder duo with Elliana was exquisite. Renaldo was the first St. Louis Arch to base a three high. Of all his abilities, his main talent was choreography and he was one of our earliest and best student choreographers.
Renaldo was the first Circus Harmony student who decided to audition for professional circus schools. Twice, we raised the money to send him to Paris to audition. We all learned a lot from those first auditions! He was the first of our students to audition for and be accepted at Ecole Nationale de Cirque— the National Circus School of Montreal, which is affiliated with Cirque du Soleil. Since Renaldo started down this path, seven more students of ours have attended circus colleges and two others have gone to regular college and then taken professional circus jobs.
Renaldo’s first booking out of school was in Dubai, followed by a six month tour of Australia. I remember we were biting our nails waiting for his original passport to arrive the first year we went to Israel. In the movie about that initial Israeli adventure, Renaldo is seen saying it was one if the most amazing things that ever happened to him.
Many amazing things later, I sit in the Boston theater with a woman who is writing a book about our now seven year Peace Through Pyramids Partnership with the Galilee Circus in Israel, watching a grown Renaldo grace the stage with power and presence, talent and technique. It is breathtaking. Not only to me, I hear it in how the audience responds to his work.
We all want our children to grow up to be healthy, happy, successful adults who do something that makes the world a better place. After going through what the Huffington Post compared to the training center for the X-men, Renaldo certainly looks healthy. He is happy to be making a living and touring the globe with one of the best contemporary circus companies in the world. For any artist to be working in their field and making a respectable living, that is the achievement of success. The cheers, applause and standing ovation of the crowd is a statement to the impact of what he is doing. Circus has always been a place where humans become super-humans— they defy gravity, teleport objects, and even talk to animals (did I mention that Renaldo was also part of the Arches’ Ianna Spirit Riders bareback riding act, back in the day?). Circus people show us what is possible as they do what actually seems impossible. Circus, by its nature, is inspirational. Renaldo was our first student to show all of us that it was possible to go from tiny, little, Circus Harmony to a professional circus school and career. He went on from his East St. Louis home to fulfill Circus Harmony’s mission to help children “defy gravity, soar with confidence and leap over social barriers, all at the same time.”
I remember when I was a college student, myself, and decided I wanted to do circus as a career. I went to my circus teacher, Warren Bacon, told him about my decision and asked how I could repay him for introducing me to the world of the circus. He said, “I’ll tell you what my teacher told me: ‘Pass it on.’ ” I promised I would.
I had been to Renaldo’s graduation show at Ecole Nationale de Cirque, I had seen the live-feed video of him winning the silver medal in Paris and I’d watched numerous videos of his act with Naomi posted from various shows. To see him performing live, brought up an emotion that was deeper and different than pride— although I certainly felt proud. I remembered all the weekends he stayed at my house pouring over all my circus books and videos. I remembered all the times he told me I wasn’t doing enough as a circus school director. I remember all the acts he created with us and him telling me later how much he valued the freedom to do so. I remembered him telling me, after being interviewed once, that what he really learned from me was how to talk to anyone. The feeling I felt watching Renaldo in that show was a deep satisfaction, almost a relief, that I had done my job and satisfied my responsibilities to him and that he and the others who followed him on this professional circus path were going to be not only all right but great. Watching Renaldo, I felt fulfilled.